1927 Charlie & Lillita Chaplin Divorce Papers 1st National Bank

Price:

£15,000.00

Product Description

A remarkable set of papers issued to the 1st National Bank of Los Angeles on the 11th Jan 1927 as Lillita Louise Chaplin filed for divorce from her husband, the world-renowned actor and comedian, Charles Spencer “Charlie” Chaplin.

The marriage started on unstable ground in November 1924 as Lillita was underage and pregnant when the pair travelled to Mexico for a hushed ceremony. She was then sent into hiding until well after their first child, Charles Chaplin Jr., was born. After only two years of troubled marriage Lillita filed a Divorce Complaint that would shock the media and public alike. The complaint was published and sold on street corners days later because of the scandalous sexual claims against Charles and when she was granted the divorce it was the largest settlement at the time, over $800,000.

Copies of the complete papers are still available to buy online to this day and cover the full proceedings. What are on offer in this collection are three booklets that were issued to the 1st National Bank of Los Angeles, defendants with Chaplin and a number of other Corporations that were all part of the Chaplin Estate. They include the original COMPLAINT FOR DIVORCE, the RESTRAINING ORDER AND ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE ON ALL DEFENDANTS and the ORDER APPOINTING RECIEVER. In all around 50 pages, made up mostly of the scandalous Complaint.

The covers are light blue paper and have the name and address of the Attorney for the Plaintiff at the bottom, Edwin T. McMurray of Young and Young Attorneys at Law. The top carries the case number D-52298 and Superior Court of the State of California. The papers are stamped COPY throughout but have the same hand annotations as the originals issued to Chaplin himself, all initialed by the presiding judge. They are obviously old papers and the covers show some signs of wear but the printed sheets inside are still complete with every word legible.

The Complaint makes for compelling reading as Lillita lays bare her life with Chaplin. It candidly explains her subjection to behavior that would not have been mentioned in polite society and its runs to a remarkable 42 pages. Then, as now, it was usual to have only a few pages delineating the facts of the union, grounds of divorce and the compensation claimed. This Complaint went deep into details meant not only to sway the presiding judge but also to tarnish Chaplin’s reputation with his audiences, a tactic that ultimately saw her receive the largest payout of the time. It was the actions of her lawyers during the creation of this Complaint that she later admitted exaggerated the details. While it was all true, she commented “I am not proud of it because I could have exercised better judgment”.

Her lawyers convinced the Superior Court Judge Walton J. Wood to issue the Restraining Order, included here with his signature, in order to stop Charlie moving his wealth before the settlement. It covered as much of the Chaplin Estate as possible and 17 parties in total were named as Defendants, even Toraichi Kono, his valet.

This makes the copies we have for sale one of 16 copies issued to the co-defendants and a rare and remarkable piece of Charlie Chaplin’s history.

Paper Size: 35.56 x 21.5cm (US Legal Standard)

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Shipping Weight: 0.9kgs

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